Teaching and Learning Medical Ethics in UK | Dissertation Reviews

A review of Taking Education Seriously: Developing Bourdieuan Social Theory in the Context of Teaching and Learning Medical Ethics in the UK Undergraduate Medical Degree, by Nathan Emmerich.

This thesis is an attempt to bridge philosophical inquiry and social theorizing. Drawing upon a wealth of academic literature from several disciplinary areas, Emmerich expands on Bourdieu?s concept of ?habitus? to develop its cognitive dimension and a theory of ethical thinking enculturation. His analysis is grounded in the teaching and learning of medical ethics in the context of undergraduate medical education in the UK. The dissertation has a theoretical focus and his discussion of the processes of enculturation and socialization in medical education aims to offer a conceptualization of the ways in which medical students develop their professional moral dispositions.

In his introductory chapter, Emmerich offers an overview of his project and a framing of the various perspectives that inform his interpretation of Bourdieu?s ?habitus? and of medical ethics learning. Here he also delineates some important distinctions ? for example between ?enculturation? and ?socialization?, between the ?acquisition? and ?participation? metaphors of learning; and between the formal and informal dimensions of medical learning ? which will guide his analysis through the following chapters. In addition, Emmerich also underlines the centrality of an essentially Wittgensteinian understanding of the relationship between thinking and language to his analysis of the teaching and learning of medical ethics in the undergraduate medical degree.

Chapter 2 explores the foundations of Emmerich?s social theorizing: a Winchean reading of the relationship between philosophy and social science, and the corresponding methodological approach for the researcher and theorist. In this chapter Emmerich also draws extensively upon Jarrett Zigon?s anthropological work on morality and ethics, proposing a distinction?? within medical learning ? between ?institutional morality? (i.e. the codes and guidelines of the profession) and ?professional discourse morality? (the discussions on moral issues between students and their teachers with or without reference to codes and guidelines). Outlining the different emphases of ?embodied dispositions? as framed in Zigon?s work (where the focus is on individual life trajectories) and in Bourdieu?s ?habitus? (where the focus is on social groupings), here Emmerich also describes his brief experiences as an observer in the medical school and the distinct character of applied ethics as taught in the context of undergraduate medical education.

Deepening the theoretical roots of the analysis, in Chapter 3 Emmerich develops the cognitive dimension of Bourdieu?s ?habitus?. He does so by first offering a useful overview of existing sociological work of Bourdieusian framing in the field of medical education, and then engaging with the Bourdieusian concepts of ?habitus? and ?field? and discussing in depth the most useful of way of understanding ?habitus?. Finally, he examines in some detail the work by Simon Sinclair on medical students? dispositions and that by Shari Tishman and colleagues on the teaching of thinking dispositions.

An overview of the main features of undergraduate medical education in the United Kingdom and a historical examination of the developments in medical ethics teaching before and after the publication of the General Medical Council guidelines are at the core of Chapter 4. Here we find a picture of the context of undergraduate medical education in practice and of the place of medical ethics education within it. Emmerich explains how the teaching of medical ethics takes place along three main directions in the undergraduate degree: the formal teaching of ethical principles and concepts (e.g. beneficence and non-maleficence, justice, and autonomy, but also confidentiality and consent); the issue-focused teaching in the optional Student Selected Components; and the discussion of medical ethical issues in the course of clinical placements.

In Chapter 5 the discussion revolves around how reflection can be seen to be the ?signature pedagogy? of medical education and how ?metacognition? has received far less attention than reflection in this area of professional education. Emmerich proposes to see medical ethics teaching in the undergraduate curriculum as an exercise in dialogical metacognition; a practice that aims to equip students with the metacognitive skills that will enable them to recognize and engage with specific ethical aspects of individual medical cases. On these grounds, we are invited to think of medical ethics education as a cognitive apprenticeship?? that is, a process of enculturation in a specific mode of reasoning.

Reviewing and consolidating some of the links and relationships established in previous chapters, in Chapter 6 Emmerich returns briefly to language by drawing some analogies between acquisition and use of language and development and use of professional ethics reasoning. In this chapter, he also argues that approaching medical ethics education as a form of cognitive apprenticeship allows the analysis of the enculturation of ethical concepts, metacognition, and thinking dispositions in this process.

In the concluding chapter, the elucidation of links and relationships operated through Chapter 6 leads to an analysis of the implications of Emmerich?s argument for medical ethics education and academic philosophy. In relation to the former, Emmerich stresses the role that medical ethics teaching has in ensuring that the ?moral situations of medicine strike medical students? in a way that is similar for all students and coherent with the profession more broadly (p. 213); with regard to the latter, he calls for academic philosophy to develop an understanding of applied ethics in its practical dimensions (e.g. as applied in professional practice) as a social phenomenon. In suggesting that further research is necessary and desirable, Emmerich also underlines the wide transferability of the cognitive dimension of Bourdieu?s habitus he has developed and the possibility of wider application of the notion of cognitive apprenticeship.

An appendix traces the teaching career of Professor W. George Irwin, the first Chair of General Practice at Queen?s University Belfast (and only the fourth in the United Kingdom) and the links that connect the introduction of education in General Practice, the transformation of the curriculum, and the inclusion of medical ethics in the core structure of the curriculum. This dissertation offers exciting theoretical developments that cut across the fields of sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and professional education. As such, the conceptual tools it develops will be of interest to scholars in various areas of research, and in particular to those in the areas of medical ethics and medical education, applied ethics, and the sociology and philosophy of education.

Dr Sara Donetto
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery
King?s College London
sara.donetto@kcl.ac.uk

Primary Sources

Scholarly work in philosophy, sociology (including medical sociology and medical education sociology), and anthropology.
Medical education policy and guidance documents.

Dissertation Information

Queen?s University Belfast. 2011. 278 pp. Primary Advisor: Lindsay Prior.

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Image:? Doctor with a stethoscope, Wikimedia Commons.

Source: http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/2075?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=teaching-and-learning-medical-ethics-in-britain

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Geezericious: When is a Food Truck Burrito Not a Burrito? When it's ...

It's not often I find myself excited by a food truck that doesn't feature either Asian or Latin cuisine, but that's what happened today when I paid a visit to Pelle Nilsson's Nordic truck at SoMa StreatFood Park.

When the StrEat Food park tweeted that "Chef Pelle" was on the lunchtime roster I was curious enough Google the unfamiliar name. I was headed for Costco (across the street from the Park) anyway, and hopeful of finding something new to try out for lunch. ?"Chef Pelle," it turned out, is Pelle Nilsson, who has been cooking in high-end venues since he was 14, traveled throughout Europe and Asia to broaden his knowledge of world food, and has had several executive chef stints in Hawaii and the Bay Area before turning his attention to catering. Needless to say, I was curious to find out what he would do from a truck.

I circled the StrEat Food Park's vendors once looking for "Chef Pelle" before realizing that the truck I was looking for was identified as the "Nordic Truck." ?It's a somewhat nondescript truck decorated with home-grown artwork and its menu sprawled across a white expanse in a less than elegant longhand.?After perusing the menu, I selected what the menu described as "{Tunnbr?dsrulle} beef & pork sausage w/ mashed potatoes, shrimp salad & cucumber salad wrapped in thin flat bread" and a side order of home-pickled herring.

When my unpronounceable lunch came, it had the appearance and heft of a burrito, but couldn't be eaten like one, because the fresh flatbread had nowhere near the tensile strength of a flour tortilla. Once bitten into, it began to look as messy as its combination of ingredients sounds, and I resorted to eating it with fork and knife (which is how Swedes are reputed to eat sandwiches, anyway). The sausage was long and hotdoglike with a bit of snap, and amazingly enough the range of textures (from the insipid mashed potatoes to the firm crunchiness of the cucumber slices) and flavors (the shrimp salad added a curiously salsa-like counterpoint) played together like a symphony.

The home-pickled herring was also a tart bit of heaven in a plastic cup. The generous portion of herring (for ?a $3 side dish) had a nice firm bite to it, and the pickling liquid was so refreshing I wanted to drink it all. It's a safe bet I'll return to try everything else on the menu, like the aquavit cured salmon crostini, the crab and shrimp melt with scallions, parmesan and provolone cheese, and ooooh, yeah, the Swedish meatballs. And it's an equally safe bet that I'll have a side of pickled herring each time.

Source: http://geezericious.blogspot.com/2012/11/when-is-food-truck-burrito-not-burrito.html

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Remarkable Photos of Soldiers Reuniting With Their Kids | Toddler ...

soldiers reuniting 15 Remarkable Photos of Soldiers Reuniting With Their KidsIn my previous career, I had to travel quite a bit ? much more than I would of liked to with toddlers at home. One thing I can say that was always nice was that I could always talk or Skype with my husband and kids each night. While my business trips were?inconvenient?to our family and sometimes grueling in general, I was only gone a few days and our life returned to normal soon after mom returned home.

Then I think about my brother-in-law. He has spent the last 10+ years serving our country in the U.S. Army. He has a wife and two toddlers. When he is called to serve, the ?business trips? are never short. The day-to-day of raising children is 100% my sister-in-law?s. While communication is now more readily available, it?s no where near as easy to access as I had in a hotel room. After the weeks or months that go by, reuniting with his wife and children is bliss.

Watching soldiers reunite with loved ones is a heart warming experience. If you have ever witnessed such an event you know what I am talking about.?The emotion is so evident, even in photos. Check out these 15 Remarkable Photos of Soldiers Reuniting With Their Kids.?

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    His American Hero

    This is my brother-in-law, Jay. He has served numerous times in Iraq. His son, 4, thinks the world of him.

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#his-american-hero

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    5 Kids at Home

    Sgt. Quentin Johnson has five kids, here he is hugging four of them.
    Image Source: army.mil

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#5-kids-at-home

  • thumbs 03 15 Remarkable Photos of Soldiers Reuniting With Their Kids

    Darth Vadar Surprise

    Deployed Dad surprises son by dressing up as Darth Vadar. Watch this video!

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#darth-vadar-surprise

  • thumbs 04 15 Remarkable Photos of Soldiers Reuniting With Their Kids

    Dad Deployed for a Year

    Sgt. Ramon Troya reunites with his 18-month-old son. He was separated from his family for a year.
    Image Source: army.mil

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#dad-deployed-for-a-year

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    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#reunited

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    Daddy's Girl

    Little Abigail, 21-month-old is clinging to her daddy - Spc. Kory Castro after a 12-month deployment to Iraq.
    Image Source: Pinterest

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#daddys-girl

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    Homecoming

    Sgt. Mitchell Pecoraro and his wife and daughter during a homecoming ceremony for his battalion.
    image source: kdhnews.com

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#homecoming

  • thumbs 08 15 Remarkable Photos of Soldiers Reuniting With Their Kids

    Kisses from Daddy

    Kisses from Daddy after a 10-month deployment to Afghanistan.
    Image Source: flickr.com

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#kisses-from-daddy

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    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#9-months-away

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    Face Squeeze

    Four-year-old Malachi squeezes his daddy's face after a year-long deployment to Afghanistan.
    Image Source: flickr.com

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#face-squeeze

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    Madden and His Daddy

    Madden has his daddy home after a year-long mission in Kosovo.
    Image Source: flickr.com

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#madden-and-his-daddy

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    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#daughters

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    Happy to Be Home

    Daddy is home after a 12-month deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
    Image Source: flickr.com

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#happy-to-be-home

  • thumbs 14 15 Remarkable Photos of Soldiers Reuniting With Their Kids

    Welcome Home

    After a year in Afghanistan, this soldier is happy to be home.
    Image Source: Photo by Sgt. Jessica M. Kuhn/XVIII Abn. Corps PAO - flickr.com

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#welcome-home

  • thumbs 15 15 Remarkable Photos of Soldiers Reuniting With Their Kids

    A Year Away

    After a year away, Evelyn, 1, and Brooke, 4, are happy to see their daddy.
    Image Source: flickr.com

    /toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/#a-year-away

thanks day 12 300x300 15 Remarkable Photos of Soldiers Reuniting With Their KidsToday I am thankful for our freedom. Freedom to write this blog post, to raise my toddlers with the religion of my choosing and the other rights that come thanks to the efforts of our military and government.

To those serving for our freedom, thank you.?While Veterans Day was yesterday ? saying thanks on that day alone just isn?t enough.?

More Molly Babbles:

Molly blogs parenting, geekery and technology at digitalmomblog.com.


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 15 Remarkable Photos of Soldiers Reuniting With Their Kids

Source: http://blogs.babble.com/toddler-times/2012/11/12/soldiers-reuniting-with-their-kids/

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Mailman steps over dying man, thought he was a Halloween ...

Family members of a west Denver man who collapsed and died on his front porch said a mail carrier walked?by the body to deliver the mail, but did nothing to help.

"I don't know how he sleeps at night," said Hedy Porch, the man's wife.

On Nov. 2, her husband, Dale Porch, was dropped off at home after working the graveyard shift for the Regional Transportation District, but he never made it inside.

"My brother-in-law walked up these steps, got to this step here and collapsed," said Kimberly Cordova, Dale Porch's sister-in law. She pointed to the mailbox just a few feet away. ?"So, the mailman literally was right here, and he was right here collapsed on this step."

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The grown son of Porch discovered his father about an hour afterward and called 911. ?Efforts to resuscitate?Porch were unsuccessful.


To read the full story click here:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/man-collapses-on-front-porch-...

Source: http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/Mailman-steps-over-dying-man-thought-he-was-a/xhnAKHw0wEq7jRLahmhWoA.cspx?rss=50

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Dems, GOP fight brewing over curbing filibusters

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A brewing and potentially bitter fight over Democratic efforts to curb filibusters is threatening to inflame partisan tensions in the Senate, even as President Barack Obama and Republicans explore whether they can compromise on top tier issues such as debt reduction and taxes.

A potential showdown vote to limit Senate filibusters would not come until January. Democrats are threatening to resort to a seldom-used procedure that could let them change the rules without GOP support, all but inviting Republican retaliation.

That fight is looming as the newly re-elected Obama and GOP leaders prepare to use the lame-duck session of Congress that starts Tuesday to hunt for compromise on the "fiscal cliff" ? the nearly $700 billion worth of tax increases and spending cuts next year that automatically begin in January unless lawmakers head them off.

That effort will be contentious enough without added animosity over efforts to weaken the filibuster. Unless a filibuster compromise is reached, the dispute could produce sour partisan feelings that might hinder cooperation on legislation when the new Congress begins work in January.

Filibusters are a procedural tactic that lets the minority party block bills that lack the support of at least 60 senators. Democrats seem likely to command a 55-45 majority in the new Senate, meaning 60 will still be a difficult hurdle.

Frustrated by the GOP's growing use of filibusters, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering a Senate vote in the new year to limit their use.

"I think that the rules have been abused and that we're going to work to change them," Reid, D-Nev., told reporters this past week. "We're not going to do away with the filibuster, but we're going to make the Senate a more meaningful place, we're going to make it so that we can get things done."

Democrats say that vote to change the rules would require a simple majority of senators, and they argue that the Constitution lets Senate majorities write new rules for the chamber. That, in effect, would mean Democrats could change the rules over GOP opposition, assuming 51 Democrats go along.

Republicans say they filibuster legislation because Reid blocks them from offering amendments. They also note that Senate rules require that the body's procedures can be changed only by a two-thirds majority.

Changing Senate rules by simple majority, rather than a two-thirds vote, is rarely done and referred to as "the nuclear option" because it is considered an extreme move that can trigger all-out partisan battling.

The Senate's arcane procedures require the consent of all senators to do almost anything. An embittered minority party can use the chamber's rules to force repeated votes and delays that can grind work to a virtual halt.

Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., would not say what Republicans would do should Democrats try changing the rules by simple majority vote.

"We hope Democrats will work toward allowing members of both sides to be involved in the legislative process ? rather than poisoning the well on the very first day of the next Congress," Stewart said.

Republicans also note that in public remarks Reid made on the Senate floor in January 2011 during a discussion with McConnell, Reid agreed to oppose "any effort in this Congress or the next to change the Senate's rules other than through the regular order." That was a reference to Senate rules requiring two-thirds majorities for rules changes.

Democrats say it is Republicans who broke the January 2011 informal deal the two leaders discussed because McConnell said he would use procedural delays "with discretion."

Instead, Democrats say, Republicans frequently have used stalling tactics to prevent the Senate from even beginning to debate bills. They then bog down debate by insisting on votes on piles of amendments, including many on unrelated issues that are designed to score points in future election campaigns, Democrats say.

Reid wants to prevent filibusters on "motions to proceed," which let the Senate begin debating a bill, and aides say he might consider other restrictions as well. Reid plans to discuss it with fellow Democrats in the postelection session. Discussions with McConnell could occur as well, Democratic aides said.

Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon has proposed filibuster limits that include requiring senators delaying legislation to talk continually about it on the Senate floor, much like the senator portrayed by the actor James Stewart did in the 1939 movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

That type of filibuster has been extremely rare for decades.

The use of filibusters by senators, usually those in the minority, is one of the key ways the chamber differs from the House, where the rules usually let the majority prevail unimpeded. Senators in the majority often complain about the minority's excessive use of filibusters, but are usually cautious about limiting the procedure because they know their own party can fall back into the minority after any election.

According to the Senate Historian's Office, the number of "cloture petitions" ? a procedural step that sets up a vote to end a filibuster ? was 68 in the two-year session of Congress running from 2005 to 2006, the last time Democrats were in the minority.

But that number has exceeded 100 for each of the past three two-year sessions, all of which have seen Republicans in the minority, peaking at 139 in the 2007-2008 session. There have been 109 in the current 2011-2012 session, with several more weeks of lame duck meetings expected.

Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said that while Democrats are open to compromise, McConnell "has got to know that the American people on Tuesday completely rejected his entire approach to governing, obstruction and gridlock at every turn."

McConnell spokesman Stewart said Republicans already compromised in the informal 2011 agreement that Democrats broke.

"Doing hyperpartisan actions doesn't lead to partisan compromise," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dems-gop-fight-brewing-over-curbing-filibusters-123939041.html

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Asian stocks fall on US economy fears

(AP) ? Uncertainty over whether Washington will be able to work out a spending and taxation deal that is crucial to keeping the U.S. economic recovery on track caused Asian stock markets to stall Monday.

Economists have said the U.S. risks slipping into recession if hundreds of billions of dollars in expiring tax cuts and automatic spending reductions take effect on Jan. 1 ? the so called "fiscal cliff." Congress and the White House must find a compromise to prevent a big hit to the world's biggest economy.

President Barack Obama, fresh from a re-election victory, and House Speaker John Boehner have spoken of compromise but appear to be taking firm stances on some issues, including whether to raise taxes for the wealthiest Americans.

"Despite comments from the US administration and Congressional leaders of a willingness to compromise, markets remain unconvinced," analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in a market commentary.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.6 percent to 8,704.21, with growth figures showing the economy contracted an annualized 3.5 percent for the quarter ending September. Most economists forecast a further decline in economic activity for the October-December quarter, which would officially put the world's No. 3 economy in recession, according to the common definition of two consecutive quarters of contraction.

South Korea's Kospi fell 0.2 percent to 1,900.27 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.2 percent to 4,453.40. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia fell. The Philippines and New Zealand rose.

Hong Kong and mainland Chinese stock markets rose following comments over the weekend by Chinese Cabinet officials that the country's economic slowdown has ended, although the economy is not ready to stage a recovery, and that exporters still face tough conditions.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.2 percent to 21,421.44. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.1 percent to 2,071.80 and the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.4 percent to 831.58.

Jackson Wong, vice president at Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong, cautioned against too much optimism regarding China's economy amid disappointing Chinese loan growth figures.

Lending in October stood at 505.2 billion yuan ($80.3 billion), dropping 81.6 billion yuan from a year earlier, the People's Bank of China said Monday, according to Xinhua news agency. The figure decreased from the 623.2 billion yuan of new yuan loans registered in September.

"Expect light trading this week unless major news comes out," Wong said.

Among individual stocks, Suzuki Motor Corp. enjoyed a 5.1 percent jump. The company reported a 30.9 percent rise in April-September consolidated net profit reported Friday.

Australia's QBE Insurance Group, which said it expects losses from superstorm Sandy in the U.S. to be up to $450 million, tumbled 8.2 percent.

Wall Street stocks began a slide Wednesday in the biggest sell-off of the year after Obama won re-election. Then investors immediately turned to worrying about the looming fiscal crunch.

On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose marginally to 12,815.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.2 percent to 1,379.85. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.3 percent to 2,904.87.

Benchmark oil for December delivery rose 2 cents to $86.09 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 98 cents to finish at $86.07 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.2729 from $1.2713 late Friday in New York. The dollar strengthened slightly to 79.47 yen from 79.45 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-11-12-World%20Markets/id-f867890b9463434fbb098edca0210cfb

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Basics: Birds Have Natural Ability to Survive Storms

AWASH A protected area for plovers in Lido Beach, N.Y., after a 2009 storm.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy and the spiteful me-too northeaster, much of the East Coast looked so battered and flooded, so strewed with toppled trees and stripped of dunes and beaches, that many observers feared the worst. Any day now, surely, the wildlife corpses would start showing up ? especially birds, for who likelier to pay when a sky turns rogue than the ones who act as if they own it?

Yet biologists studying the hurricane?s aftermath say there is remarkably little evidence that birds, or any other countable, charismatic fauna for that matter, have suffered the sort of mass casualties seen in environmental disasters like the BP oil spill of 2010, when thousands of oil-slicked seabirds washed ashore, unable to fly, feed or stay warm.

?With an oil spill, the mortality is way more direct and evident,? said Andrew Farnsworth, a scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. ?And though it?s possible that thousands of birds were slammed into the ocean by this storm and we?ll never know about it, my gut tells me that didn?t happen.?

To the contrary, scientists said, powerful new satellite tracking studies of birds on the wing ? including one that coincided with the height of Hurricane Sandy?s fury ? reveal birds as the supreme masters of extreme weather management, able to skirt deftly around gale-force winds, correct course after being blown horribly astray, or even use a hurricane as a kind of slingshot to propel themselves forward at hyperspeed.

?We must remind ourselves that 40 to 50 percent of birds are migratory, often traveling thousands of miles a year between their summer and winter grounds,? said Gary Langham, chief scientist of the National Audubon Society in Washington. ?The only way they can accomplish that is to have amazing abilities that are far beyond anything we can do.?

Humans may complain about climate change. Birds do something about it. ?Migration, in its most basic sense, is a response to a changing climate,? Dr. Farnsworth said. ?It?s finding some way to deal with a changing regime of temperature and food availability.? For birds, cyclones, squalls and other meteorological wild cards have always been a part of the itinerant?s package, and they have evolved stable strategies for dealing with instability.

Given the likelihood that extreme weather events will only become more common as the planet heats up, Dr. Farnsworth said, ?the fact that birds can respond to severe storms is to some extent a good sign.? Nevertheless, he added, ?how many times they can do it, and how severe is too severe, are open questions.?

Among a bird?s weather management skills is the power to detect the air pressure changes that signal a coming storm, and with enough advance notice to prepare for adversity. Scientists are not certain how this avian barometer works, yet the evidence of its existence is clear.

As just one example, Dr. Langham cited the behavior of the birds in his backyard in Washington on the days before Hurricane Sandy arrived. ?They were going crazy, eating food in a driving rain and wind when normally they would never have been out in that kind of weather,? he said. ?They knew a bigger storm was coming, and they were trying to get food while they could.?

Songbirds and their so-called passerine kin may be notorious lightweights ? if a sparrow were a letter, it could travel on a single stamp ? but that doesn?t mean they?re as helpless as loose feathers in the wind. Passerine means perching, and the members of this broad taxonomic fraternity all take their perching seriously.

When a storm hits, a passerine bird can alight on the nearest available branch or wire with talons that will reflexively close upon contact and remain closed by default, without added expenditure of energy, until the bird chooses to open them again. If you?ve ever watched a perched bird in a high wind and worried, ?Poor squinting thing ? could it be blown away and smashed to bits down the road?,? the answer is not unless the perch is blown away with it.

Scientists have found that many migratory birds, especially the passerines, seek to hug the coast and its potential perches as long as possible, leaving the jump over open water to the last possible moment. But for birds over the open ocean, hurricanes pose a real challenge, and they can be blown off course by hundreds of miles. In fact, ornithologists and serious bird-watchers admit they look forward to big storms that might blow their way exotic species they?d otherwise never see in their lifetime.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/science/birds-have-natural-ability-to-survive-storms.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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At a Glance: Oil price stays above $85 per barrel

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/glance-oil-price-stays-above-85-per-barrel-202531961--finance.html

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Obama to meet labor, business leaders for fiscal talks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will meet business, labor and civic leaders this week ahead of negotiations with top lawmakers to avert sharp tax hikes and deep spending cuts that loom at the end of the year, a White House official said late on Sunday.

The president wants to find "a balanced solution to our deficit challenges" and a way to move the economy forward, the official said.

Obama, re-elected to a second four-year term on Tuesday, faces the immediate challenge of preventing the so-called "fiscal cliff," a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases due to be implemented in early 2013 that may cut the federal budget deficit, but also tip the economy back into recession.

Obama has scheduled a meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate on Friday to begin negotiations.

The president will meet with leaders from the labor community and other leaders of the progressive political movement on Tuesday, the official said. Obama will meet with business leaders on Wednesday and civic leaders on Friday, the White House official said.

The president and congressional Republicans have sounded conciliatory notes since the election on reaching a deal to avoid the sudden fiscal shock. The two sides are at odds over raising taxes for top earners.

Obama insisted in his re-election campaign that the wealthy should pay more as part of any fiscal deal, and has said his victory at the polls is an endorsement of that view.

Still, on Sunday, two Republican Senators made comments that could be seen as suggesting they may be willing to negotiate. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker said he had some sympathy for the view that there need to be more government revenues as part of any deficit reduction deal.

"There has to be revenues," he said on Fox News Sunday. "Look, I haven't met a wealthy Republican or Democrat in Tennessee that's not willing to contribute more as long as they know we solve the problem," Corker said.

Separately, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn said there were ways to eliminate tax loopholes for top earners that could provide additional funds for government coffers.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-meet-labor-business-leaders-fiscal-talks-051815351--business.html

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Dexter, Season 7

Jennifer Carpenter as Debra Morgan and Santiago Cabrera as Sal Price. Jennifer Carpenter as Debra Morgan and Santiago Cabrera as Sal Price (RIP)

Photo by Randy Tepper/Showtime.

Jeff and I kicked around the idea of silent crime scenes and inconclusive physical evidence last night. In that vein, a quick search through reviews of episode 7 around the web turns up negative for pregnancy theories. It must be too early to ponder whether Hannah the flower lady is germinating from within?and, granted, the show has enough on its plate without another potential Harrison to worry about.

Other theories abounded, though. On Vulture, Richard Rys relays his friend?s hypothesis about why Hannah left the winter wonderland kill table intact: ?She was too hot to die.? Yet Rys agrees with Jeff that the Dexter/Hannah kiss-and-scuffle may be losing steam.

?This season is at its best when the focus is on the clash of the Morgans,? he writes. ?All the angles ? sister versus brother, cop versus killer, boss versus employee, badge versus the Code ? make every scene with Dexter and Deb crackle with tension. Chemistry was the theme of last night?s episode, and there?s still more of the stuff when it?s Dexter and Deb facing off.?

Still, Hannah has managed to win him over just a little. ?She?s not unlikeable, despite her dirty deeds,? Rys says. Her ?breakdown while describing how she stabbed that woman to death while protecting Randall felt sincere; if those tears were an act, then Hannah is the Meryl Streep of serial-murdering horticulturists.? Much as I love the idea of Meryl Streep on Dexter?she could more than fill LaGuerta?s shoes as a steely, inwardly conflicted homicide captain?I thought Hannah?s histrionics for Sal seemed completely fake, and that the confession scene only revealed her psychotically manipulative streak. Other commenters haven?t weighed in on her character yet, which may reinforce Jeff?s view that she is hot but underdeveloped. Zap2It?s Drusilla Moorhouse does underscore one of the episode?s money lines, in which Hannah tells Dexter, ?We were looking out for each other. That?s big for people like us?maybe even historic.? But she makes the excellent point that Hannah?s acceptance of Dexter is not so sublimely unique. ?Isn?t Deb?s request that he kill Hannah proof of her own acceptance?? she asks.

As for Deb, while most reviewers used the show?s last few minutes to argue that Lt. Morgan was finally embracing her dark side, Cassandra Berube at The Baltimore Sun remains unconvinced. ?Just earlier tonight, Deb told Dexter that he couldn't kill Isaac, who was being released from jail after it was discovered that the blood evidence in the case against him went missing,? she points out. Perhaps Debra?s desire for vigilante justice is a one-time thing, a specific antidote to her grief over Sal?s murder. This reading emphasizes the specialness of Sal, rather than the corruption of Deb?and it injects some human pathos into a season that Jeff aptly called looser and wilder than ever.

Sal?s death is ?a shame?because Price was actually shaping up to be a decent guy,? Rys writes. And as the few decent ones?Quinn, Batista, Nadia?slide closer to the edge, the show should maybe consider swapping its devilish salsa theme music for Billy Joel?s ?Only the Good Die Young.?

Or it could lower our collective blood pressure by killing off Koshka capo Isaak posthaste. If there?s one thing that everyone seems to agree on, it?s that Dexter?s eloquent Russian adversary is pure Mephistopheles. His lawyer even smells like ?sulfur mixed with shit.? In an episode devoted to chemical reactions, that particular combination is the one that lingered most threateningly for me. But what do you think?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=5ab0b5c47209020920d577619ef9013c

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